ICE AGE 4 Continental Drift, and Pixar's Brave.

Well yesterday I plugged my brain on the back seat of the Wizmobile, and took Mrs W and Master W to the pictures for our family outing, the weather was proving unpredictable, and I wanted to try out our son with a Reel D presentation as I kinda figured the light plastic frames would be more child friendly than the more heavier Dolby Digital 3d glasses.
Well my experiment was a success, my son having kept his glasses on for the duration of the film  which was ICE AGE 4 Continental Drift.
Now right off the bat lets be honest, ICE AGE as a movie franchise, is not going to win any Oscars for best screenplay, like a tv show it is a series of films that invites you to join a familiar cast of characters, and a few new members to the franchise on a series of escapades, playing fast and loose with history. Ice Age 4 as the title tells you, takes place during the continental drift, which is an excuse to separate our friends from the loved ones and for them to spend the next 90 minutes reuniting with each other.
     The last episode introduced us to Bucky as voiced by Simon Pegg and this time, we are introduced to a villainous band of pirates led by an ape, voiced, well I'll let you guess who but Game of Thrones fans will be pleasantly surprised.
      The story is only a frame work for a series of sketches and outlandish action sequences, but you know these films are critic proof because they are there to entertain the youngsters, and to be honest I kinda loved it. I know going in to these films what to expect, and every time I come away with a smile, having enjoyed the experience. This is a family film that delivers, I enjoyed it a lot more than the Lorax, and a hell of a lot more that the Alvin films and my 4 year old was suitably entertained and didn't move till the end credits. Though that might be due to the excessive amount of sweets he had consumed during the presentation.



Today I took my good wife to see the latest Pixar movie Brave, a Scottish tale about the conflict between a mother and daughter, a well paced, beautifully animated and colourfully told with a wonderful Scottish voice cast. I loved this film. Now I know some trusted critics have described it as a Pixar lesser work, I strongly disagree, I do feel it delivers for an older audience which is why we didn't take our 4 year old. By older I mean more your 7 years and upwards, just because its a little more talkie than your usual pixar fair. If I was to group this with other Pixar films I enjoy then this would be up there with the Incredible's and Ratatouille. Now I would break down the story for you, but that would be spoiling it  , this is a film you need to discover for yourself. But I enjoyed it ,Pixar still has it, and this film delivers. I guess in simple terms critics can have their opinion but this is one film that really invites you to decide for yourself.